1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



289 



color and very rajiid growth. My success has 

 been perfect, and Avhcther in the open sun or un- 

 der shade, 1 never fail of an abundant crop of fine 

 fruit. My only preparatory cultivation is mulch- 

 ing the buslies with rich compost every winter and 

 spring. The bushes from which these two varie- 

 ties are plucked I obtained from our friend Elliott. 

 I have lost their names. 



THE CULTURE OF ONIONS. 



Mr. Editor : — My success in raising onions, has 

 led many to ask "how it is done." They say tlie 

 maggot and the large brown worm have been so 

 destructive that they have done trying to raise that 

 valualjle vegetable. In answer to such inquiries 

 pei-mit me to reply. 



There arc at least six kinds of onions. But they 

 are of the same species. Tlie leek, the garlick, 

 the hill-onion, the top onion, the red and thesilvcr 

 onions. From the fact, that whenever onions have 

 been fuuml growing wild, they are always found 

 most plentifully and most flourishing in muck soil, 

 I have taken the hint to prepare my onion bed 

 with a plentiful supply of muck first put into the 

 hog-yard, and then well mixed with common soil. 

 If I plow the ground, I take care not to have the 

 ground too light. As the roots of onions do not 

 go down deep, they will not stand drought so well 

 in light as in more compact soil. Besides onions 

 bottom better where the ground has been rotted 

 or hard trodden. 



I cultivate the "top onion" for several reasons. 

 All black seed onions are slow to come up. The 

 weeds get the start of them and then you are 

 obliged to get down on your hands and knees and 

 weed with your fingers. Then warm weather has 

 come on and the maggot fly commences with the 

 young and destroys it. And the black seed onion 

 is so late that the black worm is just in season to 

 bite off the tender stalk, and so devours the onion. 



But j51ant the "top onion" seed, which is already 

 a little onion, you may get them widl growing in 

 April. Tliey come up immediately, so that you 

 may hoe them twice or more before weeds appear. 

 And before maggot or worm time, the oniou has 

 got the ground by possession. When the weeds 

 appear, you may march right along with your hoe 

 and go over with a bed large enough for twenty 

 Imshels, before breakfast. 



The reason why maggots have ever destroyed the 

 top onion is, that tliey were planted too late. 

 They should be planted as soon as the snow and 

 frost disiippears. Some put out in tlie fail and do 

 well. I liavc never tried it. The top onions on 

 good ground are large as any. They are sweeter 

 and more juicy than other varieties, and can lie 

 raised as easy as potatoes. 



I have given away and sold seed for several 

 years ; and when the experiment has been fair, all 

 have been satisfied. I intend to give away and sell 

 before April, twelve bushels o/ seed . S. Morgan. 



Bristol, Vt., Jan. 13, 1854. 



Middkbury Rcgisttr. 



IIOW TO TELL THE IIeIGUT TO WHICH A CoLT 



wiu, ATTAIN WHEN FuLL Grown. — When the foal 

 is three or four weeks old, or as soon as it is per- 

 fectly straightened up, measure from the junction 

 of the hoof with the hair, to the middle of the 

 knee-joint, and the numlxjr of inches will be the 



number of hands in heiglit to which the colt will 

 grow. Thus, if the measure is IG inclics, the 

 liorse will be 16 hands high. This rule, it is said, 

 will hold good in nine cases out of ten. — Indimia 

 Farmer. 



HOW TO PLANT CUCUMBERS, MELONS 

 AND SaUASHES, 



TO AVOID DESTRUCTION BY BUGS. 



As the cost of seed is trifling, we have for the 

 past few years always succeeded in getting good 

 vines by the following process. Insteail of plant- 

 ing a lew seeds in hills at the distance they would 

 ultimately be required to grow, we iiave put in a 

 large quantity over the whole ground ; so that at 

 first we had a hundred plants where oidy one was 

 needed. Sometimes we have had a plant come up 

 on every two inclics over the whole bed. 



As fast as the expanding leaves of the vines in- 

 terfere ^vi/h fach other we cut ofl' the wea/.Tr ones 

 with a pair of shears, so as not to disturb the roots 

 of those remaining. The "bugs" have always 

 materially assisted in the thinning process, but we 

 have never failed to find twice or tlsricc the needed 

 number of plants entirely untouched. AVhon be- 

 yond the reach of danger from insects, all the 

 weaker plants are removed ; and a solitary vine 

 left here and there has been enough to cover the 

 ground. 



The same ground will yield much butter, by 

 having the vines at equal distances from each 

 other, than if two or three are left together in the 

 Siimc hill, since the roots have more room to grow, 

 and they find a greater amount of nourishment 

 when thus isolated. The fruit will also be more 

 solid and of better quality. 



It should jjlso be remembered that air and light 

 are essential to the growth and maturity of the 

 fruit; and it is better to occasionally cut out a 

 thrifty plant, than that the ground be too densely 

 covered. Just vines enough to thinly cover the 

 ground, will produce better than double this 

 number. — American Agriculturist. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FERTILIZERS. 



The preparation and application of manures is 

 Ihe foundation of all succesrjful culture. This is 

 particularly true on the long used fields of New 

 England. Most cultivators direct their attention 

 to the crop of the season, with little or no regard 

 ta those which are to follow. In this respect, our 

 modes of culture vary essentially I'rom the modes 

 best approved in Europe, where the aim is, while 

 one crop is growing, to have the land made better, 

 for that wliicli is to follow. 



Without the apjilication of fertilizing materials, 

 in some form or other, it is in vain to expect abun- 

 dant crops. Plow and pulverize as much as you 

 may, it will not grow the plants, without some ad- 

 ditional stimulant. The question then is, how 

 shall these stimulants be obtained in quantities 

 sufficient to give fertility to the entire farm. 



Look about among tlie farms, and their prod- 

 ucts will be found very nearly proportioned to the 

 manures used thereon. And when the manure is 

 itself the product of the farm, either by saving, 

 composting, or otherwise, then it is the main- 

 spring of profit in the farming ojierations. Con- 



